OU Gibbs College is pleased to announce that Jonathan Tate is invited to give a public lecture in the upcoming fall semester. Jonathan Tate is the founder and principal of OJT, an award-winning architecture firm based in New Orleans. OJT was established in 2011 as a creative, expansive, and exploratory practice with a desire to contribute to contemporary discourse.
For his lecture, Tate will discuss his firm’s work and related topical issues that are currently impacting the built environment. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, September 13 at 4 p.m., location TBD.
OJT project "Zimple." Photo by William Crocker.
Tate’s firm has a unique setup that is embedded in both practice and research. His work embraces ideas of community engagement and serving using design to address the challenges of affordable housing and urbanism. Tate’s practice focuses on reworking normative, overlooked, and familiar project types by integrating new designs with situational conditions. Every project is designed to belong and contribute to its original location while communicating with a lineage of associative built work.
OJT project "St. Thomas at 9th." Photo by William Crocker.
His firm offers architecture and urban design services as well as planning, interiors, graphic design, development consulting, historic preservation, and affordable housing activities. Most of his projects are focused in New Orleans, but his firm has completed several others across the U.S. and internationally. His firm’s clients include CDCs, NDCs, non-profits, institutions, governments, private developers, and individuals. Along with his work at OJT, Tate has also served as a visiting and adjunct professor at the Tulane School of Architecture.
For more information, contact Amy Leveno (amyleveno@ou.edu).
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
Gibbs Construction Science and Architecture students recently traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to compete in the Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region 8 Student Competition. The team partnered with Czech Technical University and secured third place in the Design-Build category.
Gibbs College is pleased to present the exhibition Vollendorf in Oklahoma: The Architecture of Dean Bryant Vollendorf during the Spring 2026 semester. It will be on display in Gould Hall, on the OU-Norman Campus, from February 16, 2026 - March 13, 2026.
